The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 78, The Final Trial

We paced forward until the fireplace groaned and twisted, closing the gateway behind us, sealing us into total darkness. Then the ground trembled, the floor suddenly moving upwards. Dagger's strong arms wrapped around me as I clung to him.

Before I could profess any last regrets, the floor stopped shaking. Again, the sound of metal clunking and grinding rose around us.

Then a sheet of metal fell away before us, like a wall knocked down. Light blinded me as both Dagger and I recoiled. I lifted a hand, blinking away the brightness, hit by a scent like that of The Circled Forest, but a thousand times richer and deeper.

"Where are we?" I said.

Dagger shook his head, both of us transfixed at the room before us. Leaves of teal, turquoise, and a thousand other shades I had no name for stretched in every direction . Unlike The Circled Forest, where the trees grew in orderly rows, I couldn't make out any path between the trees, or even their limbs, the trees so covered in the circled vines and greenery. I stepped out onto the soft floor, drawn forward by the deep, rich scent.

"Welcome, Z and Androcles, to Level A."

Dagger stepped protectively in front of me, as we both searched for the source of the voice. Then an old man with silvery white hair stepped out from behind a tree.

"I've been waiting some time for you both," he smiled, his face creased with more wrinkles than I'd ever seen. "I am Ardus."

Dag and I exchanged a glance. If this was level A, where was everyone? My eyes turned up, searching the ceiling, but finding only a canopy of twisted leaves and vines. Ardus seemed to understand the direction of my thoughts, and gave me a sad smile.

"The plants have overgrown the room, but I can't seem to stop them. There's few of us left now. We were one of the first levels to reduce population."

My head snapped back to him. "Reduce population? As in... murder?"

His eyes were like granite, cold and ageless. "Only when necessary. Some gave their lives willingly... others not so willingly." He shrugged, a movement that seemed too small for the magnitude of his words. "Death is a part of life. You will learn this in time."

But I'd let too much slide without letting an old man downplay murder. "Or the other levels could live less wastefully. Like we do in the Belly."

He shrugged again. "You are right. They could. The same way our ancestors on Earth could have lived less wastefully, but choose not to. Everything is a choice. And so is your final trial. Come." He turned, and began to make his way through the trees. A thin path, only the span of a hand, wove through the dense, soaring foliage. Dagger and I exchanged a look, and, with no other option, followed.

As we walked, I searched for the source of light above, and any other sign of life here. But I found none. Whatever this place was, it was beautiful, strange, and quiet.

We walked through the forest, until we came to a small clearing, with a small, twisted tree in the center. Red fruit hung from tree limbs that sagged beneath the weight. "You may pick one, if you wish," Ardus said.

I stared at the fruit, recalling their name, though I'd never seen them on a tree before. Apples. Was this part of the test? But Ardus was already moving on, and Dagger with him, so I reached out and picked one. I stared at the smooth exterior, suddenly reminded of an old story, with a woman and an apple and a snake. But I'd already picked the apple, and it wasn't in me to waste food, so I pocketed it and followed after the two men.

We came to a wall of green vegetation, the uniformity of it the only evidence of the metal behind. Without hesitation, Ardus opened a door set into the greenery itself. I followed Dagger through, passing through a cave-like covering of vines that smelled like dust and dying plants.

Then we stepped into a small room with metal walls, a few screens in the front, and some boxy equipment covered in dust. It could have been a room in the Belly. Almost at once, my inner engineer started analyzing the equipment, how to turn it off, how to manipulate it. The instruments were foreign to me... Yet there wasn't much here, besides the door we'd come through and a single metal door on the far end. Whatever the test was, whatever Ardus meant by a choice, I didn't see how it could be confined to this small room.

"And now, your final test." Ardus tapped on one of the machines, bringing up a diagram of the Beast, labeled by each section. "You have risen level by level to the very top. You have passed through the Garden of Eden. Now, you alone have the knowledge to choose."